1. Creativity in math and science (CMS)
Faculty Workshop
June 20, 2017
Dr. Mika Munakata
Dr. Ashwin Vaidya
Ceire Monahan

2. Discuss with your group (without looking it up, of course!):
What is the area of the Pacific Ocean?
Which state in the United States is flown over the most?
Mika

3. Be motivated—not be afraid of failure Question norms Be inquisitive
What were your approaches, and how are they related to some features of creativity?
Connect ideas
Be flexible
Have aesthetic taste
Be unorthodox
Be motivated—not be afraid of failure
Question norms
Be inquisitive
See similarities and differences
Mika

4. Goals for today Have you experience creativity as a learner
Give a brief overview of our project
Have you participate in an exercise that connects disciplines and creativity
Have you consider how you might incorporate creativity into a course you will be teaching in the fall
Convince you to participate in this project long-term
Mika

5. Creativity in Math and Science Overview
Funded by the National Science Foundation
3-year program (September, 2016-August, 2019), Track 1 pilot program
Components
Course revision
Scholarship program
Research
Involves
Instructors of undergraduate mathematics and science
K12 teachers
Bergen Community College partners
Ashwin

6. CMS Project Objectives
Design, pilot, and refine learning materials and instructional innovations to engage students in creative thinking in STEM. Sustain these efforts at MSU.
Evaluate and report on the project with respect to effective instructional strategies and students’ perceptions of STEM learning, retention of STEM majors, success in subsequent courses, and preparedness for the STEM workforce
Build bridges with partner institutions to coordinate sustainable change in undergraduate STEM education
Aswin

8. Questioning norms, be inquisitive, ask questions
Mobius Strips
Geometry
Ashwin

9. Infographics: make connections, be unorthodox, have aesthetic taste
At home assignment
Ashwin
In Class Activity

10. Monte carlo simulation: make connections, see similarities
Small Group Activity
Whole Group Discussion

11. Midterm test--probability using beach ball: make connections, conjecture about differences

12. Final Exam Experience— A Creativi”TREE”!!

13. research
Participants: Students in Math 106 – General Education requirement for non- mathematics majors
Spring 2017 class meetings twice per week
Weekly assignments
Surveys
Torrance Test of Creativity
Guilford Alternate Use Assessment
Student Attitude Survey - Conceptions of Science
Student journals
Interviews
Instructor interviews
Student focus group interviews

14. Student reactions
“it’s really different from a lot of courses I’ve taken…they don’t teach in a conventional way…in every other math course I’ve ever taken they give you examples, and then you do homework, and then you take a test.”
“[it] makes math less stressful because like it’s okay to be wrong because you’re more learning like why you’re doing the math, not just how to do the math.”
“…It’s the first class I’ve taken that tells you that math can be creative instead of just logical.”

15. Student reactions
“…it really broadens your thinking to not only math but what each subject really is and how they overlap with each other”
“there’s other things that make it like more of a combination where like in high school…it was like never a combination of science and math…whereas here it’s like they go together and here’s why they go together.”
“…try to come up, you know with ways to solve it by different means…so, what I noticed is everybody uses a different source so it’s really uh, I think it uses everyone’s creativity.”

16. Where are we going from here?
By the end the summer, post revised lessons on our website (please check back then!)
MATH 102—New Student Experience for math majors
Bergen Community College
CMS Scholars Program
Scale up

17. That’s mathematics! Our homemade video
Ability to repurpose and reimagine things—looking for matheamtics.
Inspired by an early faculty workshop

18. You can do this either individually or with group members.
Your turn
Think of a lesson in your discipline that can be taught using Q-tips. (How is this creative for the teacher? For the learner?)
You can do this either individually or with group members.
Choose one to share with the whole group
This idea was spurred from past participants at a presentation/workshop we gave.

19. Planning a course
Please pick a course that you’re teaching next semester and complete the worksheet
We will collecting these, collating the responses, then sending them back to the whole group

20. Over the summer, revise a syllabus with our discussion in mind
Summer homework
Over the summer, revise a syllabus with our discussion in mind
Please develop lesson plans that deliberately incorporate creativity and them to us at We will send a reminder before the school year

21. Exit survey
Consent forms
Survey
We welcome further feedback. Please feel free to us at any time!
Thank you for attending!